It's controversial/ Robert Downey Jr weighs in on 'no chairs' policy on Nolan's Oppenheimer set, reignites controversy

During a recent Actors on Actor session organised by Variety, Marvel movies co-stars Robert Downey and Mark Ruffalo sat down for a detailed conversation with each other about their work in movies, and the year of 2023 at movies in general. During the same, Downey Jr opened up about how he had no chairs on set while shooting for Oppenheimer, the magnum opus by Christopher Nolan that emerged as one of the most talked-about films of the year.

There were no chairs on set, Downey says about Oppenheimer shoot

Talking about Oppenheimer shoot, Downey Jr elaborated that unlike most other movie sets, there were no chairs during the shoot on the Nolan's directorial. He stated, “You would go back and sit in your set chair — no, you wouldn’t, because there were no set chairs! It was very spartan, like 100 people making a watch every day.” Downey added, “Then you’re moving at such a clip that you realize if you’re checking your phone and hanging out at craft service — oh, there is no craft service! — that you’re going to miss the pace of what he’s doing.”

Nolan had earlier dismissed ‘no chairs’ allegations

In an old interview, actress Anne Hathaway, who had worked with Christopher Nolan in the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises claimed that Nolan does not allow any chairs on his sets. She had said, “Chris also doesn't allow chairs, and his reasoning is, if you have chairs, people will sit, and if they're sitting, they're not working.” 

Hathaway had added, “He has these incredible movies in terms of scope and ambition and technical prowess and emotion. I think he's onto something with the chair thing." The above-said statement from Hathaway had drawn the attention of netizens who had both shared their criticism of Nolan for the same, as well as shared many memes about Nolan’s rigid attitude.

In response, an official spokesperson from Nolan’s team later clarified the filmmaker's stance on the issue to media portal Indie Wire. The statement read, “The chairs Anne was referring to are the directors' chairs clustered around the video monitor, allocated based on hierarchy not physical need. Chris chooses not to use his but has never banned chairs from the set. Cast and crew can sit wherever and whenever they need, and frequently do. For the record, the only things banned from Nolan's sets are cell phones (not always successfully) and smoking (very successfully)."